


Battle of the Bands.

by colderthancold



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Bands AU, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 19:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9398846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colderthancold/pseuds/colderthancold
Summary: Nico is an emo and Eli tries to be charming.





	

This was it. The moment they had been all waiting for. The reason of all their rehearsals and the reason of their constant effort to improve. The reason they practiced until late night and the reason they got so tired. The reason their throats were almost sore and the reason they weren’t doing that great at school. The battle of the bands was here. They had been waiting for this since three months ago, when it was announced. Nico instantly got the form, they filled it and it was sent the same day. They were the most excited they had ever been. This was their first live presentation, after all. They had only uploaded some (questionable quality) covers to the the internet, and they had gotten one or two comments supporting them and one or two comments asking why their covers were so trashy. But that didn’t matter. They weren’t going to give up anytime soon and they were going to win the battle of the bands by thrashing. They were sure about that. Or at least Nico was. And that was almost enough.

Their band was named Myspace Emos (because that’s what they mostly were) and it had a partly known but kind of irrelevant hierarchy (since no one cared about it aside Nico), as Rin (who played the drums), Hanayo (who played the bass) and Honoka (who played the electric guitar) only did some vocals and Nico (the leader, manager and main electric guitar of the group) did most of the them, chose the songs they were going to sing and got them everything they needed to be famous, as she said. But that was something they didn’t really talk about; Nico had the idea of creating a band after all, and she was a caring and fair leader most of the time.

“Okay girls, we’re here.” Nico said, while they entered the auditorium, the place they expected to become legends in and the place they had been daydreaming about the last few months. Honoka smiled.

“We are!” She said, placing her guitar case on the floor and then stretching. They had practiced a little at her house just to make sure everything was going to be fine.

“There sure are lo-lots of people…” Hanayo commented. Nico smiled.

“It’s great, isn’t it? We’re gonna be hella famous after this!” She said trying to contain her excitement, but her eyes shinned as much as the lights that illuminated the stage. She was born to shine, she said. She was born to be a star. A rock star.

“Rin can’t wait to perform, nya!” Rin said, waving her drumsticks. They all sat on the grandstands; they had one hour left until it was their turn and forty-five minutes until they had to go backstage, so they decided to watch their opponents play meanwhile, making comments on their presentations and some jokes regarding their style.

“You see that girl?” Nico asked, while pointing at the band that was playing. They nodded. “She’s spoiling their presentation. Look at her face; she thinks she’s doing a good job! This is unbelievable. I don’t want you all to feel over-confident, but if all the other groups are like this, we’re totally gonna win.” Nico assured. Her bandmates smiled (All types of smiles: while Rin’s smile looked like she just wanted to have fun and she didn’t care if they won or lost, Hanayo’s smile was nervous yet gleeful).

Two bands had played since their arrival and nothing was out of the ordinary; the other bands were neither good nor bad, so they still had some chances on them. After that Honoka’s nervousness turned into hunger and she said she was getting something to eat. Hanayo said she wanted something too, so Rin was left alone with Nico. They were waiting for the third group to start when Nico heard that one voice she hadn’t heard in at least five years but wouldn’t ever forget. That one voice she would recognize wherever she was, whenever it was.

“Nico? Is that you?” The voice asked, getting closer to her. Nico frowned and almost snorted. This couldn’t be happening, not in the day she was supposed to shine the brightest she had ever shinned.

“Hey, Ayase.” She said, standing up and facing Eli Ayase, her lifelong enemy.

“Nico! It’s been a quite while, eh?” The girl said, trying to get a hug from Nico, who moved coldly.

“Yeah. I was hoping it’d be longer.” Nico rolled her eyes. “What are you doing here, huh? Weren’t you supposed to be in Alaska or something?”

“Russia, Nico. I lived in Russia five years with my family. I just got here this year. You still look the same, though.” Eli smiled, taking one of Nico’s pigtails and playing with it. Nico frowned even more, and moved away from her.

“Don’t touch me, Ayase. And answer what I asked you: what the hell are you doing here?” Nico couldn’t keep pretending she was fine with the fact Ayase was going to spoil her day yet again. She was even more disgusted than normally because she wanted this day to be perfect and everything that had Eli Ayase in it instantly turned into the greatest disaster of all time; every time worse than the last. No exceptions.

“Isn’t it obvious? I came here with my band. We’re gonna play.” Eli said, while raising an acoustic guitar she was holding so she would see it. As for Nico, she just noticed Eli had a group of four girls standing behind her.

“Hah! You gotta be kidding.” Nico chuckled, while looking at their instruments. One of the girls had a flute and other had a cello. And she didn’t even want to mention the one that had a violin.

“What are you gonna do with this instruments? Put some babies to sleep?” She laughed. The other girls didn’t take her joke so well, especially that awfully tall red-haired girl, who got closer to Nico and faced her.

“Look, you ignorant imp: we’re gonna play music; good, quality music. Nor like you, who, judging by your instruments, are gonna make pointless, out of tune, talentless sounds, you try-hard rock-and-roller.” She said, while glaring at Nico’s t-shirt, which had the logo of her favorite band, an old school rock band she idolized to death. Nico’s face heated up.

“Look, you stupid giraffe: first of all, I, we, have more talent on our left hands than you all on your whole bodies. And we don’t play rock music; we’re a rock-pop-punk-new wave-indie-grunge-alternative band. We ain’t rock, smarty-pants.” Nico explained. The girl looked at her confusedly. Everyone did when Nico told them what kind of style they played. She was sure it was because they had never heard about such and original and intriguing style (but it was because it sounded a little ridiculous). The girl was about to say something when Eli interrupted.

“Maki, Nico, calm down. I bet both groups have talent, I’m sure they do. We just play… different styles. We’re just a little bit more toned down.” In that moment Honoka and Hanayo arrived with a big-sized hot-dog on one hand and an extra-large drink in the other.

“What’s happenin’ here?” Honoka asked. Nico looked away from Ayase’s band.

“Nothing important, really. We just happened to run by a bunch of snooty dorks.” Nico said. She heard Eli calming Maki down again. She smiled. Nico liked to cause that effect on people.

“I bet ya’re just jealous.” That comment made Nico’s blood boil again and she went were Ayase’s band was just to make the girl that said that regret it. It was a purple-haired girl with a little superiority smile on her face (a thing that made Nico get even angrier).

“What did you just say?” Nico asked. The girl’s smile turned bigger.

“I said ya’re just jealous of Elicchi.” She answered, never breaking eye contact. Nico snorted.

“I would never feel jealous of Ayase. I mean, I’m insanely great and she’s a huge nerd.” Nico explained. The girl shrugged.

“Ya’re jealous because Elicchi always gets in your way. Ever since ya were lil’ kids.” She whispered. Nico’s face, that was red because of how angry she was, turned paler in less than a second thanks to that comment.

“How do you know that?” Nico asked quietly, trying to look calm. The girl looked away, and touched Ayase’s shoulder.

“We have to go backstage, Elicchi. And good luck on your presentation, Nicocchi. You’ll need it.” The girl said. As they walked away, Nico screamed at the top of her lungs “What’s with the Nicocchi?!” and noticing they were too far away and that the music was too loud for that girl to hear her, she added “Yeah, go away, you psycho!” after that she he went with her band.

“Is everything okay, Nico?” Hanayo asked. Nico nodded.

“Yeah. It’s just that I can’t stand that Ayase kid, really.” She said, sitting down heavily. Rin and Honoka assured everything was going to be alright (“We’re gonna kick that blondie’s ass” Honoka said. Nico couldn’t agree more).

Honoka and Hanayo finished eating just when they had to go backstage. They started putting on the makeup they had brought; they were going to paint their whole faces white and make some designs in black. Nico said that would make a great impact on the audience and that they would go insane even before they started playing.

Nico was finishing her makeup when she heard the presenter saying “Now get ready for a group of young ladies named Facebook Wine Moms! Come here!” And when that group started playing she instantly recognized the song; it was the same one they were going to sing. She looked at the stage and recognized that blonde ponytail. That made Nico go insane and none of her bandmates could control her. She was having one of her infamous rage breakdowns.

“THAT FUCKING AYASE! THAT STUPID, STUPID COPYCAT! HER BAND’S NAME IS JUST LIKE OURS! AND SHE’S SINGING OUR SONG! OUR SONG! DUDE, I’M SURELY KICKING HER ASS AFTER THIS SHIT AND I’M GONNA RUB THE TROPHY AT HER DUMB RUSSIAN FACE BECAUSE WE’RE GONNA WIN AND THEN-“She would have kept going but one of the organizers went where she was and was clear with her: “If you say one more word you’re out”. And also Honoka threw water at her face in a desperate move, ruining her makeup. Nico frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I’m gonna kill her. That’s it. And I won’t regret it.” She said, as Hanayo helped her fix her makeup; they were the next ones and they had to be ready. Honoka and Rin were worriedly watching Ayase’s presentation. They were good. They we’re incredibly good and Eli’s voice was completely enchanting, it was like they were snake and she was a snake charmer. And as they were singing an acoustic cover they had even more chances to win because they most likely made the arrangements for the different instruments. Myspace Emos was just singing the original song, no changes at all. Not even one instrument.

“Girls, don’t worry. We’re still kicking her ass. There’s no way a stupid fancy band is gonna win.” Nico said, trying to assure everyone everything was going to be alright, trying to assure herself everything was going to be alright. Honoka and Rin tried to smile; Hanayo did, and they felt a little better.

When Eli’s band finished everyone was giving them a stand up ovation. Nico gulped and she could feel Ayase’s stupid smile and jealousy filling her body like some kind of toxic dense liquid.

“What did you think?” Eli asked. She kind of looked nice, but Nico ignored her and she felt the presenter saying their band’s name, which made her feel a little nervous. Just a little. She got up and walked towards the stage, but Ayase stopped her and said “Break a leg.” Nico cursed her and hoped Eli broke her whole body.

They plugged their guitars, the bass, and Rin sat before the set of drums, familiarizing with the stage. They all looked at each other one last time before playing, and smiled. They assured each other that way, wordlessly. Just a look and everything was going to be fine. Nico took the microphone and said one last thing before singing, looking at the filled up auditorium.

“This song is dedicated to Eli Ayase, that fricking asshole.” She said, almost under her breath. After that she said the obligatory ‘one, two, three four’ and they started playing. Playing with all their energy and putting their bodies and souls into it. All the passion they felt in that moment (which was a lot) and the last three months of practice. All their hopes and dreams. And when Nico started singing no one could deny she had it. No one knew what, but she had it and she wasn’t going to let it go anytime soon. She was singing her favorite song with her best friends in front lots of people, she was proud of her work and for a second she realized she didn’t care if they lost: she just wanted to play more music and make her soul fly that way.

* * *

  
“I’m sorry you were disqualified,” Eli said, holding the trophy with both of her hands. Nico shrugged.

“They weren’t wrong, though. That guy said ‘one more word and you’re out’ and I called you asshole in front of everyone. He gave me a warning, at least. And maybe trying to burn the guitar onstage wasn’t such a good idea.” Nico said, pretending she didn’t care, as she always did with everything. But she did and her voice was almost broken. Eli put the trophy away and placed her arm over Nico.

“You did great. I felt it.” Eli smiled. Nico looked away.

“What? How pathetic we were? I’m sure you were happy to feel that. You had a standing ovation.” Nico said and her voice broke. Eli frowned.

“No, no. The passion you had while singing; it had something. I can’t tell what, but it was amazing. Your singing had many emotions in it. It was breathtaking.” Eli said, taking Nico’s face in between her hands.

“Oh yeah? Tell that to the judges. Even if we hadn’t been disqualified we wouldn’t have won. You would. You always do!” Nico exclaimed, and tried to hide the fact that she was about to cry even if her voice was as broken as the dream she had conceived for today’s presentation.

“I don’t. Nico, you-“But she was interrupted by a raging Nico.

“You always do! You know why I hate you, Ayase? Because every time I’ve wanted to win something, every time I’ve had a dream you always win. You’ve won everything since we were kids. You were the perfect one and I was the problematic one. And I hated you so much… I still do. I wanted to win this. It was my dream. And you had to come back from Alaska and ruin everything. You always have to get in my way.” Nico said. Eli didn’t even mind she said Alaska instead of Russia again. She minded the fact that Nico looked so hurt.

“I don’t know what to say.” Eli confessed. Nico crossed her arms. “But you’re a winner, Nico. Just because you fight so much for what you want to do. And that’s it.” Eli explained.

“That’s pity. Everyone says that to the losers, I’ve heard it lots of times and all of them have been a lie to make me feel better.”

“No, really. I’m being completely honest this time. You’re a fighter and it’s not just your singing that has passion in it, it’s everything you do. I want you to know I’ve always admired that from you. I always give up easily, and you never do –so I’m giving you this,” Eli said, while giving Nico the trophy she had won.

“Wait, why are you giving me this piece of trash? Because I’m not lazy like you? I don’t want your pity, Ayase.” Nico said but Eli smiled.

“Something like that. It’s because I know you practiced a lot for this, and I know how much you’ve worked for this. And you deserved to win. I’m sure, I’m entirely sure you would have won if you hadn’t been disqualified, because I’m going to say it again; you had something when you were onstage that was truly paralyzing. I looked at you singing and I felt the proudest I’ve ever felt, that’s why I’m giving you this. For all these years of hard work you’ve put in your all the dreams you’ve ever had.” Eli said. Nico hugged the trophy and looked away.

“Huh. I’m happy you’re finally having some common sense, Ayase.” She said. Eli kept on smiling.

“Wanna go get an ice cream?” Eli asked.

“That’s the least you can give me.” Nico stated.

“Oh, and you know why I chose that song?” Eli asked, suddenly remembering something.

“Why? Because you wanted to screw me up?” Nico asked back. Eli moved her head in denial.

“Because it reminded me of you.”


End file.
